Belinda Beresford Careless use of your credit card could mean you are making your bank an interest-free loan. If you fail to pay your total credit card debt each month, your bank may charge you for the full outstanding amount – even if you have made a partial payment. Say your statement says you have […]

It is as much of a pleasure to talk to Julian Joseph as it is to listen to his music, writes Charles Leonard There must be a factory where they make guys like young British jazz pianist, Julian Joseph. He is the third bright young(ish) thing I’ve interviewed on visits to South Africa facilitated by […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Friday 3.30pm. THE Zimbabwean central bank on Friday refused to publicly release its long-awaited report into collapsed “indigenous” bank of Roger Boka. The central bank instead passed the report on the collapse of Boka’s United Merchant Bank on the the justice ministry and police officials. It is thought that the report […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Sardinia | Thursday 7.30pm. A FEISTY Mistral forced the cancellation of the first day of racing at the Sardinia Cup regatta in the Mediterranean this week and South African yachtsman Geoff Meek only managed a fifth place on the second day’s 80-mile offshore race in continuing 35-knot winds. Meek is one of five […]

Andrew Benson : Grand Prix Gustav Brunner quit his job as a designer at Ferrari’s Formula One team this year to become technical director of back-of-the- grid Minardi, but the 47-year-old Austrian still passes the Ferrari factory in Maranello on his way back to his apartment. “They are working very hard at Ferrari these days,” […]

Ann Eveleth Many non-governmental organisations entered NGO Week this year on the precipice of financial uncertainty, with further delays predicted in the establishment of the long- awaited National Development Agency. Parliament approved legislation last week paving the way for the agency, which will channel state and donor funds to struggling organisations, but NGO commentators said […]

Donna Block : Share World Two nations united by history but divided by destiny, India and Pakistan are like estranged sisters fighting over the same man. They have fought three wars, two of them over the disputed region of Kashmir, and have displayed their nuclear capabilities. This long-running feud is affecting the stability and economic […]

SDIs are aimed specifically at boosting employment and black empowerment, but, asks Hein Marais, will they have the necessary finances? Right now the multi-billion rand Mozal smelter is just two holes in the ground – 3m deep, a kilometre apart, several football pitches wide – gouged out of a patch of pasture in Matola, outside […]

Peter Dickson A scam dubbed “Aircon” is the latest corruption scandal to rock the Eastern Cape legislature. On Tuesday, Eastern Cape legislature speaker Gugile Nkwinti announced that the secretary of the legislature, Connie de Beer, and finance director Bej Fatuse have been forced to take leave, pending investigation into allegations that they illegally converted R300 […]

Ian Whittell The TV stations are the hardware, the sports teams the software. That is the cynical but realistic jargon in an American sports world in which media companies are taking hold. “The long tentacles of media conglomerates are something we have to watch very carefully,” said Bud Selig, commissioner of Major League Baseball. And […]